Growing the Seminole Pumpkin First Year

I had high hopes for growing the Seminole pumpkin. After all, it’s a Florida native. I had watched videos where people told of their bounty of pumpkins. The vines filled their yards and pumpkins were everywhere. For me, this was not the case.

My yard is small and the garden area is even smaller so I planted the seeds in one little section near the side of an empty, overgrown lot.

I had pumpkin vines trailing down the entire side of my yard, but only one pumpkin growing. Others began, but then dropped off the vine. It was disappointing. Maybe I planted too late in the season.

This new vine was headed off into the wilderness and it had two little pumpkins growing. Sadly, one of them did not make it. The other one is doing well.

Of the two pumpkins shown above, only the one on the left continued to grow. So now I will have two pumpkins total by the end of summer.

Planting and Growing

I planted my pumpkin seeds – purchased from The Urban Harvest – in pots, then transplanted two plants to the garden. I could have planted sooner, but my garden was not ready.

Later I transplanted Seminole pumpkin plants, started from seeds in pots, into the ground, and they did not grow well. So, next time I’ll put seeds directly into the ground.

From my limited experience I have noticed: All the leaves near the place the seeds came up have turned yellow and dropped off.

The vines are easy to direct. I have all my vines coming down the edge of the yard. The vines will root into the ground along the way!

I’m watching this pumpkin grow and was wondering when I should cut it off the vine. Apparently the stem will turn brown and begin to die, then cut the pumpkin leaving a long stem (see more info in the link below). This type of pumpkin can be stored for months – even up to a year – if conditions are right.

On August 25th I cut the pumpkin from the vine. It has been growing for months and I figured it must be ready. I left a nice long stem, as was suggested by someone doing a video.

I was hoping to have numerous pumpkins from these two plants, but it looks like I will have only two.

If you have a small yard, like I do, maybe consider planting near the edge of the property and direct the vines along the perimeter. I’ll definitely plant more Seminole Pumpkins in Spring.

Read More about the Seminole Pumpkin

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